Mush and Authorship

There is a thin line between romance and insanity. There is, however, no insanity in the mass marketing of romance novels. Yet in the major publishing breakthroughs that Radway describes, there is a mixed view of authorship.

Looking at the history portrays, those who wished to publish a book did so by footing the entire bill for production costs, and paid the printer. The authorship, though, was in the hands of the one risking the expenses. The printer merely printed. Later, as it occurred to the publishers that they might wish to make a business of their trade, they sought to increase the readership or encourage repeat sales. The point is that now the publishers involved themselves more in the books by way of promotion, and had a say as to authorship, in that they began to put forth more capital, edited, and even carried out vast promotions of books and writers (34), which is what made the breakthrough for the romance novels. The original authors’ success in these books depended heavily upon the wit and ingenuity of the booksellers. With such contributions, these publishers do deserve a share of the authorship of the romance novels. Once again, the idea of multiple authorship prevails.